To improve consumer safety from cyber risks, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanianrecommended Turn smartphones off and on again once a day. The proposal comes amid the announcement of the appointment of Australia’s first National Cybersecurity Coordinator. “We have to mobilize the private sector, we also have to mobilize consumers,” the prime minister said on Friday, quoted by The Guardian as saying: “We all have a responsibility. Simple gestures like turning off the phone for five minutes every night can make a difference.” . For those of you listening, do this every 24 hours while brushing your teeth or doing something else.”
dr Priyadarsi Nanda, a lecturer at Sydney University of Technology who specializes in cybersecurity development, agrees with this advice. According to him, regularly restarting your phone could minimize the risk as it will force shut down any apps or background processes that might be monitoring users or maliciously collecting data. “A lot of users don’t realize that their apps often run in the background,” he notes. While a daily restart might seem like a basic measure, experts believe it can be helpful in certain situations.
However, it is important not to have a false sense of security. In fact, there are several hacking methods and classic methods of stealing passwords are still relevant. In addition, some phone components can remain active even when the device is switched off. Additionally, in the face of sophisticated attacks that don’t require user action to grant an attacker access, rebooting the smartphone “can pose a challenge for attackers as they need to find other ways to exploit the device when it’s powered on.”
Regularly restarting the device is a first step to encourage users to adopt good cybersecurity behaviors. However, you should be careful about the applications installed and the permissions granted. We must always remain vigilant and proactive in protecting our digital privacy.